Ethiopia: Landslide Kills 48 at Garbage Dump in Capital

Ethiopia landfill site
People look at the damage done to dwellings built near the main landfill of Addis Ababa on the outskirts of the city, Ethiopia, March 12. Almost 50 people were killed in the landslide at the... ZACHARIAS ABUBEKER/AFP/Getty

At least 48 people, 15 of them children, were killed in a landslide at a huge garbage dump on the outskirts of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, the city's spokesman said Monday.

Hundreds of people live on the 50-year-old Reppi dump, the city's only landfill site, scavenging for food and items they can sell such as recyclable metal.

Efforts are still under way to find people missing since the landslide late Saturday that destroyed 49 dwellings, city spokesman Amare Mekonen said. Twenty-eight people were being treated in hospital.

"In a bid to prevent such things happening again, people who were living in this area have now been taken to youth centers in other parts of the city," he said.

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